A Way to Rank Requests in the Request Tool? Y/N?

[Taven]

Hey, Much as I like some of the new apartment code, this entire key changing thing stopping you from getting back out is specially annoying...And doubly so when you cannot wish up because nobody turned you ability to wish back on.


So, Somebody help a brother out...Yes, I know, request tool, but man, since that can take days, I'm trying here first.

I've generally considered the request tool to be pretty quick and reliable, as a way of getting anything I need to get answered answered fast. Ironically, my longest unfulfilled request is actually in the que right now, but it's not something that needs to be answered for awhile, so I don't mind.

But I know that one of the complaints of the request tool has been that it takes too long to get an answer. Somethings you just need to wish up for, it seems, because usually you need someone logged in anyway. Other things you can't really wish up for, because you need specific staff, but they'll still urgent.

Do you guys think a way to label a request with it's importance to you would be a good idea?

That way, if it was something really urgent, you could mark it as such and it would hopefully get looked at faster.

The downside is, of course, abuse of the function.

[Barzalene]

I hope I'm not cynical, but, I think everyone would label everything urgent.

[Marc]

Why not have a 'playability emergency' or similar request type.  These would be when something OOC related prevents you from playing.  Along the lines of a "stuck character" petition in an MMO.  Dunno if it would speed up anything.  People still need to look at it to respond to it but if it is an emergency only and it is not abused and filled with fluff, it might work.

To stop abuse anyone sending in erroneous requests would lose that ability/worse.  I.E. "I cant find my superior and I need to to play!" is bullshit and would get you smacked.  Same with localized internet connecting issues.

The more I think about it, it seems pointless.  These situations are what 'Wish' is for.  Don't abuse it and you wont lose it.

+0

[Taven]

I hope I'm not cynical, but, I think everyone would label everything urgent.

That's definitely a concern. You can see how I worked it into the answers.

I think that, if it were done, you'd have to have some sort of explanation as to why it was urgent. If people routinely abused it, then it could be taken out for them, just like people can be no-wished. That might just be too much work, codedly, but it's a thought. At the very least you could give people a stern talking to. If it was something you could check, with a bolded disclaimer of not abusing it, and you had a text box to justify your reasoning, I think that might work.

You could also have different levels of urgency, possibly. "Urgent" =/= "Critical," or whatever. Then again, that might just be more confusing.

Why not have a 'playability emergency' or similar request type.  These would be when something OOC related prevents you from playing.  Along the lines of a "stuck character" petition in an MMO.  Dunno if it would speed up anything.  People still need to look at it to respond to it but if it is an emergency only and it is not abused and filled with fluff, it might work.

To stop abuse anyone sending in erroneous requests would lose that ability/worse.  I.E. "I cant find my superior and I need to to play!" is bullshit and would get you smacked.  Same with localized internet connecting issues.

The more I think about it, it seems pointless.  These situations are what 'Wish' is for.  Don't abuse it and you wont lose it.

+0

The problem is if you play at weird times or have some sort of issue that requires a speciifc imm, wishing sometimes doesn't work. I've personally had a lot of luck with wishing, though.

Anyway, what about other vital requests that aren't related to you playing? Do we think those even exist?

If a way to mark "critical" was put in, I think it would be very rarely used. I think it might still be nice to have, anyway.

[Nyr]

I'm not sure this would be useful; the most it would do is make the player feel better that they were able to flag something "urgent" or "critical."  Unfortunately, we volunteer to do this, and there's not a volunteer on-call pager for critical issues (though we do notice stuff fairly quickly if it's affecting the entire game).

If there's a game bug preventing you from playing or causing crashes or affecting your playability in a significant fashion, you can and should wish up.  If you can't get into the game or can't wish up, there's options in the request tool (even one for critical game bugs).

[number13]

Doesn't make sense to me.  The nature of the request carries with it an implied level of urgency.  What would you flag "urgent" that isn't already implied to be urgent?  Maybe an important character report (-"omg, I just pked two PC templars."), but really: that sort of thing is going to get attention from staff eventually regardless.

[jhunter]

I just don't see it truly accomplishing anything. I'm sure the staff prioritize them by the type of request anyway and do what they can to get to them as they have time to.

[Morgenes]

I think if you feel it is that urgent, it should be a wish. If staff disagrees, they may ask you to submit a request anyway  We work from the first received request that we can handle as we have time.   As sai before, we are all volunteers.

You also have the ability to add notes to requests now through the new view.  You can add a note and it will mail your clan if it is a clan request.

[Erythil]

I've had a couple situations where I have multiple requests submitted, but only the most recent one submitted is at all time-sensitive.  I get a bit squirmy thinking it'll be the last one looked at.

So I suppose an 'urgent' flag would be nice, but I understand why staff don't want to set themselves up for a bunch of self-important whining when something labeled 'urgent' isn't handled the next day.

[Taven]

I'm not sure this would be useful; the most it would do is make the player feel better that they were able to flag something "urgent" or "critical."  Unfortunately, we volunteer to do this, and there's not a volunteer on-call pager for critical issues (though we do notice stuff fairly quickly if it's affecting the entire game).

If there's a game bug preventing you from playing or causing crashes or affecting your playability in a significant fashion, you can and should wish up.  If you can't get into the game or can't wish up, there's options in the request tool (even one for critical game bugs).

Sometimes making the players feel better is good!  Amirite?

But yeah, this thread is about "would it be useful"? I know that staff are volunteers and there's no pager for issues, but it might be nice to have a way to mark something as needing attention sooner then something else or as needing more attention. If it wouldn't be useful staffside, then it might not be something useful in general. I'm curious, how are requests generally handled?

I mean, do you scan them all when they come in and then get back to them when you can? Or do you read and then reply to each one in the order it was recieved, strictly? Does how requests are dealt with vary from staffie to staffie?

You also have the ability to add notes to requests now through the new view.  You can add a note and it will mail your clan if it is a clan request.

That's a good point. 

[musashi]

I voted other because "meh".

We already know that certain requests by their very nature have a high or low priority among staff. Special Applications are very low and can take a month+ to resolve, bug reports that affect the stability of the game will get a much more immediate response. Yadda yadda yadda.

[Adhira]

While it may make players feel good at first I've no doubt that any such option would quickly just lead to more discontent as there really is no 'critical' alert for staff and downtime for these would likely be just the same as many other requests.   We have categories for requests, this can help alert certain people to look in to them (ie bugs, staff complaints, clan requests), and using these categories is your best bet rather than adding a general catchall urgent type category that wouldn't see any type of instant/urgent response.

Everyone  handles the request tool in their own individual style, much like how I'm sure you all read the GDB in a different manner, or check your email in different fashions/criteria/regularity.

[Feco]

No, for reasons already discussed.

[X-D]

I voted yes.

But, not for urgent flag, instead the other way around.

I would actually like to be able to tell staff that it is NOT urgent.
Hey, this char report is nothing new, get to it when you want.

Or even better, be able to title my requests, or at least some of them.

So staff could look at the que and see a one liner, say 35 letter title.

Code Select Expand

XD
char report: Same old same old

char report:INVASION OF NEW STEINAL!

Question: STUCK HELP

Question: Fletchery mastercraft


The nice thing about that is, the return emails would then get the same title, so I would know what it is about at a glance as well.

[Morgenes]

Now that is a good idea. (being able to title/subject your requests if you want.

[SMuz]

Yeah, titling would be better.

I think ranking would just be abused, unless staff would smack around people who are putting their requests high priority for no reason. I would probably put my requests low priority and get pissed off for late response for being so polite

Eventually, it'd end up like that command that requests staff to watch them and comment; useless because everyone does it for attention. Heh, I just had a class on priority labeling, and it turns out that if people weren't penalized for putting everything high priority, everyone would put theirs as either minimum or maximum priority, and the ones on minimum priority never get served.

[Cutthroat]

Ranking requests as urgent would kind of remind me of the review flag. So many people will use it that it eventually becomes meaningless. If you're going to set something like this up at all, it's best to have multiple flags to choose from, so that staff can look at it at a glance and figure out what's inside the request, and what they should look for as they open it up to look at it. For example:

[] contains questions
[] contains death report
[] weekly report
etc.

However, titling requests eliminates the need for something like that, which can potentially be too rigid to use properly. You could put anything into a request title.

[Taven]

I think titling is a much better idea.

+1

[Saellyn]

When I look at my emails for a request, I see [Clan/Unclanned???] <Request for x> <Request Title>
So I don't see titling as useful.
Am I actually seeing this..? OH, no, right. Sorry. Titling, good idea.

[Cindy42]

i think even those not purposefully twinking such a system would end up pressing higher priority buttons than is actually the case. thus everyone would twink the system, and anyone daring to press the lowest priority button wouldn't see a reply for a full month.

[HavokBlue]

I don't think twink means what you think it means.

Anyway, as has already been stated, reports are probably already prioritized based on what type of report they are.

[Anaiah]

In most cases, the reason for the wait behind things has nothing to do with them being unimportant. It has to do with needing to look things up, or discuss things with other people who, like you guys, you have trouble meeting up with face to face in real time with sometimes. And it's not going to speed up the process or do anything but make you more frustrated when buttons you hit saying they're urgent keep things moving at exactly the speed they're moving at: As fast as can be arranged.